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Chapter 33
Previous Chapter Marcus's imagination ran wild. What would they find down here? Nothing? The agent from MERLIN? Or even the Organization MERLIN's headquarters itself?! He steeled his nerves; he hadn't realized that his hands were shaking. "Oh my god, that was two hundred," said Silvia. She was counting the number of steel beam frames they passed by during their descent. "We're nearly half a mile underground now." Marcus's legs quavered. Suddenly, they came to an abrupt stop. Marcus and Drone looked around, alarmed. "Oh," Silvia said sheepishly. "We must be at the bottom now." Indeed, there was a closed set of doors in front of them. A sliver of dull light peeked through the thin opening. Gripping their fingers on the opening, the team slowly pried open the heavy doors. Panting, Marcus quickly scanned his surroundings. Marcus, Silvia, and Drone stood in a narrow hallway, with the elevator doors behind them. Like the elevator shaft, the entire hallway was lined with cold, somber steel. There were multiple numbered doors along the hallway with keypads on the side. The doors were largely monotone, aside from a yellow-and-black striped warning strip at the bottom. At the end of the hallway however, the walls expanded to fit a much larger and imposing door. It was heavily armored, almost like a vault door, and it was dark onyx in color. Printed on the door was the word "Survival". "So..." said Silvia. "Which door first?" --- Carter pressed his earpiece deeper into his ear, his finger turning white with exertion. "Team? Come in! I can barely hear you. What's your status?" Carter fruitlessly tried. "...Two...half...mile..." Silvia's voice came intermittently through radio static, until it faded away into the white noise. Carter pounded his fist against the van wall in frustration. He didn't like not knowing what was happening to his team. "This is Palm, what's going on?" said Han nervously. He was standing by himself, no longer with the crowd, as they had dispersed for home. The fire illusion had already been dispelled away. "They must be too deep underground for the radio to work," Carter sighed. "How're we supposed to communicate now?" No, there was a way. But Han shook his head. All he was supposed to do was standby, not to get involved. But if his friends were in danger... "I can do it," said Han with determined resolve. "I can connect our minds. Being underground wouldn't affect it so we can communicate. But I would have to leave my position. What do you want me to do?" Carter weighed his options. With a lead this hot, he wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. Most importantly, he couldn't let anything happen to his team. "How far is your telepathic range?" "It can go up to a mile, and I should be able to connect everyone, so long as they're willing," said Han. "Ok," said Carter, nodding. "Let's do it." --- Marcus pressed his finger to his earpiece, trying to listen for anyone's voice. It's been almost five minutes since they entered the hallway, and he still couldn't hear anything but static. "It looks like we're on our own," said Marcus. "What should we do? Should we split up and explore each door?" asked Silvia. "No," said Marcus sternly. "Since we can't even use our communicators, it's important that we stay together." At the moment, he couldn't sense any enemies nearby. He walked to the nearest door, numbered "S-01". He crouched to look at the keypad. Maybe he could discern the code based on the wear on the numbers, or any kind of lingering fingerprints. Marcus rubbed his eyes. It was perfectly polished. Impossible to tell. "Let me," shooed Drone. He crouched in front of the keypad, with Marcus watching over his shoulder. Drone took one of the metallic orbs on his belt. Now that Marcus was closer, he noticed that each had a slightly different finish. The one that Drone took was a pale-gold in color. The other two was a metallic silver and dark gunmetal. "Alright Mel," said Drone behind his mask. "Help us break in." The pale-gold orb suddenly levitated, much to Marcus's surprise. The orb floated right in front to the keypad. A small slot opened, and some sort of forked metallic tool extended out; Marcus wasn't exactly sure what it was for. The orb stuck the tool at the bottom of the keypad, and then with a flick, opened the panel like a crowbar. Surrounding the keypad screen were all sorts of circuits and cables that Marcus found cryptic. "Mel is the first of the three drones that I made," explained Drone, aware of Marcus's dumbfounded staring. "His specialty is unlocking things." Mel floated a little closer to the circuitry, then probed its metallic tool until it clicked into a port. Marcus watched as green numbers flickered on the keypad screen. Marcus looked back at Drone, and noticed that a faint green light was shining from his mask. After a few seconds, the green light faded. "OK," Drone nodded. "I've got the code." Marcus looked back at the keypad screen. The numbers had disappeared, and the words "Access Granted" were displayed instead. Silvia stepped forward, but Marcus held out an arm, stopping her. He put an arm on Drone's shoulder as well. "We have to assume there are hostiles in each room," cautioned Marcus. "Move quickly to positions that allow you complete control of the room." The team nodded and stepping into position. Marcus steeled himself, forming a swirling ball of darkness in his left hand. Silvia stepped to the side, mumbling a spell on her lips. Now ready, Drone pressed the keypad. There was a short, mechanical hiss, and the door lifted up... --- "Carter, can you still hear me?" Making sure that no one had saw him, Han made it inside the express elevator. He had made sure he had completely changed his outfit, wearing dark and nondescript clothing. Han pulled up his hood and adjusted his bandana he had brought. It was dark in color and only covered the bottom half of Han's face, but it was the best he had on short notice. "Yes, I can hear you perfectly, Palm." Carter's voice was clear in Han's mind. It felt like only a couple of minutes when the elevator started to slow down, then came to a complete stop. The elevator took Han underground in half a mile in less than a minutes, then the elevator started to slow down, then came to a complete stop. The elevator doors opened to the hallway, and the titanic onyx vault door was the first thing that jumped to Han. The hallways were barren and empty. Where was everyone? Before he was about to take his first step, the sounds of one of the side doors made Han jump. He didn't have time to do anything else besides drawing a quick breath before three people emerged from the room. "Er, Drone!" Han caught himself. "Silvia! Marcus!" The three people were like deer in headlights, not sure who this person was who recognized them. "It's me!" Eyes flashing orange, Han stretched out both arms towards Fenix and Silvia. They raised their brows in recognition, and closed their eyes. "Palm! What are you doing down here?!" came Silvia's voice in Han's head. "Silvia! Do you copy?!" Han could clearly hear the concern in Carter's strained voice. "Yes, I copy. We're all here, we're all fine," reassured Silvia. "Drone, Marcus, and I found a lot of great information." Fenix's voice rang in Han's head too. "I've already downloaded their research. It seems like they were developing technologies to track down people with abilities." Han sighed with relief. Everyone was okay! And then he noticed Marcus staring at everyone, confused. No one was talking aloud anymore. "Han? Could you connect Marcus's mind as well?" asked Silvia. "You can trust him." Fenix nodded, affirming Silvia's proposition. Han turned to Marcus, who still looked dumbfounded at this surreal situation. He hesitated a little, still worried of being recognized, but swallowed his nervousness. Eyes flashing once again, Han felt his mind reaching out to Marcus's... --- "WE'VE BEEN COMPROMISED!" roared Director Arthur King, his face purple. He flung papers and glass vials from his desk onto the floor in rage. Lab assistants near him gasped, clutching their clipboards and tugging on their lab coats nervously. "We've been listening in on their frequency," said one assistant, her voice quivering. "There should be no surprises, and–" "THEY FOUND OUR LABS AND ARE STEALING OUR RESEARCH!" Director King slammed his hands on the desk, and the poor assistant flinched away. "Would that be so bad?" Director King's head spun around, trying to see who dared say such a thing. He locked eyes with a man with medium-length blonde hair and a cocky smile on his face. "Vince," said Director King, eyes narrowed. "What the HELL are you saying? If word got out what we truly do, what our research if for–" "Well, it's not like our research has exactly been fruitful," said Vince. He whimsically lifted both arms to stretch. He turned his head to the side wall, where a row of TV screens were displayed. He was watching the four intruders in the hallway. "Nothing of real importance are in those rooms. It's this room," Vince said, spreading open his arms. He gestured at the large glass tube at the center of the room. It was gleaming light blue, casting an eerie glow over the whole room. "This is what they're looking for. And they'll never get past that door. It's impenetrable." Director King never really liked Vince. Respected his assistance, yes. But he would rather be punctured by a thousand daggers than spend a minute of his free time with Vince. He looked at the tube. Dead center, there was a figure floating in the middle, its features masked by the liquid. "For all our sakes," said Director King. "You better hope you're right." --- Marcus felt something in his mind. It felt like something was knocking on a door in his brain. Except, since when did his brain have a door? He imagined himself, tiny, reaching for the doorknob. Suddenly, it felt like there was another presence in his mind. And he could even hear voices! "Marcus, it's Palm. Can you hear my voice?" Marcus looked at Palm, who looked an awful lot like the person who helped him fight Onyx, but didn't see his lips behind his bandana move. How could he hear his voice? "I'm reaching out to you, telepathically," came Palm's voice again. "Can you hear me?" Marcus nodded. "I can hear you," he said. Palm shook his head. "Don't speak. Just think what you want to say, and I can hear it too." "Okay, like this?" thought Marcus. Palm nodded. Then, Marcus could hear other voices as well. "Marcus, come in!" That was Carter's voice! "Can you hear everyone now?" came Silvia's voice. Marcus nodded. This was unreal. His head hurt him, like there was some kind of constant pressure, but somehow, thanks to Palm, he could be in touch with even Carter. "Carter," Marcus started. "There's still one last door. A vault door. And I know MERLIN's behind there! The secret labs, the data that Drone stole, everything points to MERLIN being here!" Carter nodded. Somehow, Marcus could tell. "Alright. Just be cautious." Next Chapter